The Motivations of Iranian Patients With Cardiovascular Disease to Seek Health Information: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular patients need information to preserve and promote their health, but not all of them have the necessary motivation to seek relevant health knowledge. OBJECTIVES: The present study analyzed experiences of patients, family caregivers, and healthcare providers to explore the motivating factors that cause cardiovascular patients to seek important health information. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was conducted using a qualitative approach and conventional qualitative content analysis method. Thirty-six people, including 18 cardiovascular patients, 7 family caregivers, and 11 healthcare providers (from multidisciplinary backgrounds) participated in the study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and purposeful sampling and continued until data saturation. Data collection and analysis proceeded simultaneously and with constant comparison; this study was carried out from May 2012 to May 2013. RESULTS: During the analysis process, three main themes were extracted that characterized participants’ experiences, perceptions, and motivations to seek health information. The themes were “Optimizing quality of life, “Desire for personal rights to be respected,” and “Gaining confidence through consultation.” CONCLUSIONS: Our findings showed that, through seeking information, patients try to achieve well-being and realize their personal rights as well as their right to security. They should also be encouraged to enhance their quality of life by using the Knowles’ learning theory to formulate their needs and learning priorities.